About the Author
TO MY READERS ... In my stories, I want you to step back in history to significant times and circumstances, and characters unlike those of the present, yet not so different. My hope is that what you read or listen to will earn a place on your memory's bookshelf, and that you might want to share them with others and in years to come dust them off for a second visit.
As a student of history, I delight in connecting factual "dots," posing provocative questions, and taking readers and listeners to places they've never been and, in some cases, wouldn't want to be. I also love the Lord and his people and all things patriotic, historic, West Point, Christmas, Dickens, and eternal. I also love traveling the world with my amazing wife, Debbie, and talking to diverse groups about my narratives and life experiences.
Born an Army brat, I chose to follow in my father's footsteps, the first of three brothers to graduate from West Point, and while there, competed as a collegiate gymnast. Six months after graduation, I found myself one of the first in my class in the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam, an experience that figures in my narrative, Sông Bé: A Legacy of Vietnam.
After Vietnam, becoming an Army aviator (fixed-wing), and serving an aviation assignment in the Middle East, and a final service tour in Germany, I decided to try my hand at being a civilian. In my last assignment in Germany (1973-74), my duties included being the Race Relations Officer for a major Army command during a very tense time in U.S. military race relations.
Thanking Uncle Sam for the privilege of serving, I apprenticed under my father in an small engineering company, obtained a master's degree, and became a registered professional engineer (civil/environmental). I later formed my own consulting company, which grew international in scope. Along the way, I was privileged to serve as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University and as an assistant professor at West Point. After 16 years, I sold the company to become a solopreneur, consulting privately and pursuing what had become a passion - writing historical fiction and poetry under the banner of RA Publishing and writing and co-editing screenplays with my writer/director/producer son, Richie Adams (RichieAdams.com).
While writing, I also serve as the chief strategy officer for Ion Power Group LLC (IonPowerGroup.com), an innovative, eco-friendly, sustainable solar-power energy company.
I cherish the Lord, his Word, my family, my many friends (old and new), and my freedoms as an American citizen, and I remain active in veteran and West Point alumni affairs. I'm a Pilates guy who loves to travel, golf, hike, bike, and ski (for a time, a Vail Resorts ski instructor), and have been privileged to teach an adult Sunday School class. Truly, God's love and mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23)